246 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL. MUSEUM 



VOL. 86 



The present paper reports not only on the mammals collected dur- 

 ing the course of the field work in Tennessee conducted in 1937 but 

 also on all the Tennessee specimens in the National Museum and the 

 Biological Survey collections. The collectors of the specimens herein 

 discussed are listed as follows chronologically according to the year 

 in which the material was obtained : 



JJ. S. Biological Survey 

 T. J. Park, 1891. 

 G. A. Colemau, 1892. 

 Russell J. Thompson, 1892. 

 H. C. Oberholser, 1895. 

 Chailos R. Ellis, 1904. 

 Stanley E. Piper, 1904. 

 Arthur II. Howell, 1908, 1910, 1930. 

 W. H. Provins, 190S. 

 W. J. Millsaps, 1909, 1910. 

 Adam G. Millsaps, 1912. 

 Morton L. Church, 1912. 

 Earl May, 1931. 

 James Silver, 1933. 

 R. J. Fleetwood, 1934. 



U. 8. National Museum 

 Richard Owen, 1854. 

 J. B. Mitchell, 1856. 

 John Constable, 1877. 

 James W. Rogan, 1884. 

 C. S. Brimley, 1891. 

 H. H. Brimley, 1891. 

 William Palmer, 1897. 

 W. P. Hay, 1902. 

 Paul Bartsch, 1907. 

 Porter Dunlap, 1911. 

 Robert Gorhani, 1911. 

 Clarence B. Moore, 1914, 1915, 1916. 

 Lloyd Branson, 1915. 

 J. D. Ives, 1925, 1926. 

 J. G. Gillespie, 1927. 

 R. J. Fleetwood, 1934. 

 Carleton Lingebach, 1937. 

 Watson M. Perrygo, 1937. 

 Henry R. Schaefer, 1937. 

 A. R. Cahn, 1938. | 



Measurements herein are given hi millimeters. 

 The birds collected in the Tennessee field worlv have been reported 

 on by Dr. Alexander Wetmore.^ 



Family DIDELPHIIDAE 

 DIDELPHIS VIRGINIANA VIRGINIAN A Kerr: Opossum 



The opossum seems to be distributed over the whole State, occur- 

 ring most frequently in the timbered bottomlands and in the rock 

 ledges on the blutfs bordering the stream valleys. In the mountain- 

 ous sections of eastern Tennessee, the vertical range of the opossum 

 goes at least to 3,700 feet. Perrygo and Schaefer were told in Sep- 

 tember 1937 that opossums were common in valleys northwest of Roan 

 Mountain. 



S. C. Williams relates (1921:, p. 217) that Senator Hugh Lawson 

 White of Tennessee, in replying to a speech by Senator Webster, re- 

 ferred to the abundance of opossums in the short-lived State of 

 Franklin. He stated that about 1785 the subtreasurers or collectors 

 took in peltries for taxes, as provided by law. Although raccoon 



iProc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 86, no. 3050. 



